APOSTLES CREED

ARTICLES 10-11-12

The ChurCh’s role

Christ came to the world in order to save

mankind from sin. Belief in the forgiveness of sins

is absolutely essential to Christian faith.

Catholics believe that sins are forgiven in the

sacrament of Baptism and the Sacrament of

Penance and Reconciliation, also called

confession.

The ChurCh’s role

Catholicism acknowledges that every person

on earth is a sinner, and all require God's mercy

and forgiveness. Religion and the Church do

not exist for perfect people (not that there are

any, anyway), but for sinners who require the

help that the two provide.

The ChurCh’s role

The Church's role is viewed as a continuation of

the three parts of Christ's ministry when he was

on earth: teach, sanctify, and govern, which

continues Jesus's simultaneous roles as prophet,

priest, and king. The Church continues Jesus's

prophetic method of teaching through the

Magisterium, the Church's teaching authority.

The ChurCh’s role

The Church also continues the priestly ministry of

sanctification by celebrating the seven sacraments.

Finally, the Church carries on Jesus's role as shephard

and pastor by way of its hierarchy. The phrase

communion of saints means that the Church doesn't

just consist of the living on earth, but the saints of

heaven and the souls of purgatory, as well.

Article 10

I believe in) the forgiveness of sins.

Christ came to the world in order to save mankind from sin. Belief in the forgiveness of sins is absolutely essential to Christian faith. Catholics believe that sins are forgiven in the sacrament of Baptism and the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation, also called confession.

Article 10:

I believe in) the forgiveness of sins.

Catholicism acknowledges that every person

on earth is a sinner, and all require God's mercy

and forgiveness. Religion and the Church do

not exist for perfect people (not that there are

any, anyway), but for sinners who require the

help that the two provide.

Article 11

I believe in the resurrection of the body.

From the Catholic perspective, a human being

is a union of body and soul. Under this line of

thinking, death is only temporary until the end

of time when all the dead are resurrected. The

just will go, body and soul, into heaven, while

the damned go, body and soul, into hell.

Article 11

I believe in the resurrection of the body.

So no reincarnation or past lives. Catholics

believe that each person is a unique blending

of body and soul that cannot be duplicated.

This is why Christians don't view death as the

final chapter of a person's life.

Article 11

I believe in the resurrection of the body.

The body and soul will eventually team up again, because the body participated in the good actions that the soul may have performed, or the evil it committed. For this reason, the body is also rewarded or punished, depending on what it did during its existence.

Article 11

I believe in the resurrection of the body.

This is why funerals, though sad for humans, are viewed

as celebrations. Christians believe that, since humans

were made in the likeness of God, their destiny lies in

the next world. St. Augustine wrote that humans were

not created for this world, but the next.

We not only believe that the human soul is immortal, but that the human

body is destined to rise immortal from the grave. Unlike our souls, which as

spiritual substances are naturally immortal, our bodies are mortal by

nature. They were not created subject to death, according to God’s

original plan for mankind. But the sin of our first parents deprived them

and their descendants of the gift of bodily immortality. All of us must die

because we are all sinners.

One of the great benefits of Christianity to human wisdom is its clear

teaching about both spiritual and bodily immortality.

In the Old Testament

In the Old Testament, the clearest revelation about the immortality of the

soul is found in the Book of Wisdom. We are told:

“The souls of the virtuous are in the hands of God, no torment shall ever

touch them. In the eyes of the unwise, they did appear to die, their going

looked like a disaster, their leaving us like annihilation; but they are in

peace. If they experienced punishment as men see it, their hope was rich

with immortality; slight was their affliction, great will their blessing be

(Wisdom 3:1-4). “

The New Testament simply confirms the teaching of the Old on the

immortality of the soul. Our Lord could not have been more clear than

when He told us, “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot

kill the soul; fear him rather who can destroy both body and soul in hell”

(Matthew 10:28).

Christ’s raising several people from the dead shows that God is willing to have the human body reunited with the soul. And His own resurrection on Easter Sunday is the crowning proof that we, too, are destined by His power to rise one day from the grave.

On two dramatic occasions, Christ foretold that He would raise the dead back to life. When promising the Holy Eucharist, Jesus declared that, “Anyone who does eat my flesh and drink my blood has eternal life, and I shall raise him up on the last day” (John 6:54). Before raising Lazarus, Martha complained to Jesus, “If you had been here, my brother would not have died.” The Savior assured her, “Your brother will rise again.” To which Martha replied, “I know he will rise again at the resurrection on the last day.” Then Jesus said: “I am the resurrection. If anyone believes in me, even though he dies, he will live” (John 11:21, 23-25).

The longest and most explicit teaching in Scripture on the bodily resurrection is in St. Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians. The entire fifteenth chapter of fifty-eight verses is on the final resurrection of the body on the last day. It is the climax to the apostle’s discourse on the practice of selfless love, which is to be rewarded in eternity, not only in the soul but also in the body.

But there is more here than merely comparisons with nature. Our souls are immortal. They have a natural tendency to be united to the body. Their permanent separation from the body would be contrary to our human nature. It seems only proper, therefore, that our souls should be rejoined with our bodies. The Savior Himself appealed to this argument in His conversation with the Sadducees who denied the resurrection of the body (Matthew 22:23-33).

There is further logic in our faith in the resurrection of the body. During life

on earth, we serve God not only in our souls but also in our bodies. It is only

right that our reward in eternity should be not only spiritual but also bodily.

No wonder St. Paul says that, “If for this life only we have hoped in Christ,

we are of all men most to be pitied” (I Corinthians 15:19). What the

apostle means here is that even if the soul could rise without the body, it

would still enjoy happiness in the next life. But his exclamation must refer to

the whole man. Why? Because unless the body receives the rewards for its

earthly labors, those who have endured so many trials and affliction – in

body and soul – would indeed be “of all men most to be pitied.”

Finally, we are not angels, but human beings. We form one whole, body

and soul. The soul cannot be perfectly happy unless the whole of us, body

and soul, enjoys the rewards that God has promised to those who love

Him.

Article 12

I believe in life everlasting.

As Christ died, so too will mere mortals.

However, as he rose, so will all humans. Death is

seen as the only means of transit between this

world and the next. When one dies, private

judgment occurs; Christ judges the soul

Article 12

I believe in life everlasting.

If a person was particularly virtuous or holy while

on earth, that soul has the privilege of going

directly to heaven. If an individual was

particularly evil and dies in the state of moral

sin, then that person is condemned straight to

hell.

Article 12

I believe in life everlasting.

But there is also a third group of souls- those who were not bad enough to go to hell, but not holy enough to make it straight into heaven. Catholics believe that there is a middle ground between the two, called purgatory, where souls are cleansed until they can properly enter heaven.